Glendale to fight feds on tribal-land issue

by Cecilia Chan - Aug. 12, 2010 12:00 AMArizona Business Gazette

While leaders of the Tohono O'odham Nation say they want to sit down and talk out differences, Glendale is mounting a legal challenge to a federal decision to turn 54 acres near the city's sports and entertainment district into a tribal reservation.

It's a high-stakes situation as the city tries to stop the reservation and the tribe's proposal to build the state's largest casino and a resort near 91st and Northern avenues.

The tribe still must get federal approval to open a casino there. However, a major hurdle was cleared last month when the U.S. Department of the Interior approved the tribe's application to take into the reservation system slightly more than a third of the 134 acres it owns.

Shortly after the decision, Tohono O'odham Chairman Ned Norris Jr. sent a letter to Mayor Elaine Scruggs, asking for both sides to set aside their differences and sit down and talk about the project's infrastructure needs and the city's concerns.

Glendale leaders have routinely said they oppose the casino because of the cost of providing services such as water and sewer and because the city would have no say on sovereign tribal land that was part of the city's planning area.

Norris said he has repeatedly requested to meet with city officials and will continue to do so. The tribe has said that it works with other cities near its casinos to pay for services.

"Because we are preparing for litigation, this would not be an appropriate time to meet with Chairman Norris," Scruggs told The Republic in a written statement.

Glendale expects to file the challenge after the Interior Department's notice of intent to take the land into the reservation system is posted with the Federal Register, the government's legal newspaper. That should happen shortly.

City Attorney Craig Tindall declined to disclose the city's legal justification to challenge the decision until the complaint is filed.

"It's a complex issue, and lots of discussion needs to take place before we formulate the initial complaint," Tindall said.

He said city attorneys are talking over legal strategy with city officials and other parties. The Gila River Indian Community is also expected to file a complaint.

Gila River is opposed to its sister tribe's proposed 600-room resort and casino, which would compete with its gaming operations in west Phoenix.

"I would anticipate we will file separately because we probably have our own individual concerns we want to bring," Tindall said.

Those separate challenges would likely be combined into one lawsuit, he said.

How long it would take to resolve the matter "depends on the court and the court system," Tindall said. "It could be an extended period of time. That is possible."

Norris noted that, after an 18-month legal review by the Interior Department, it was determined that the 54 acres met the requirements to be taken into the reservation system.

"If the city of Glendale chooses to file suit, we believe it would be unfortunate," he said. "We would much rather be discussing how we can work together to bring nearly 10,000 jobs and positive economic development to the West Valley."

Norris touts the development as an economic engine that would create 6,000 construction jobs and 3,000 permanent jobs.

But he said the tribe will focus on countering the legal challenges.

Once that is settled, the chairman said the tribe will "finalize next steps."

That includes seeking federal approval to allow gaming on the land.

The tribe also is sorting through Glendale's successful claim in Maricopa County Superior Court that 46 acres of the 134 acres owned by the tribe actually falls within the city, not an unincorporated county area. That effectively stops the tribe from taking that land into the reservation system. The tribe has appealed that decision.